Soft-bottomed creek crossings can present a real challenge to the trail rider. They can be found in almost any terrain, open tussock valleys, farmland, or forests. Tackling them successfully takes some skill and a little practise.

It may appear only a miserable drain, hardly a creek at all. However the nature of a soft bottom of mud and slime (or even quite deep water) and vertical sided banks mean that these creeks are front wheel swallowers and may not be fordable in the normal sense. The difficulty is often increased by the inevitable downhill run to any creek, possible lack or maneuvering space and slippery ground.Look up and down the creek for a stock ford, rock crossing, or bridge. However if what you are looking at is as good as it gets, the best way is to wheelie across. The creek we crossed and re-crossed in this scenario, despite its modest appearance, has a soft bottom and the banks are vertical. To compound matters there are a good few tree roots and a tight, downhill and slippery approach. There is no ramp to aid a jump – in fact one bank is slightly higher than the other. As you can see from the photo below if we rolled slowly into this obstacle we could easily stuck or worse still end up in an undignified face-plant in the creek..

The only way (other than to drag the bike through) is a well-timed low speed wheelie. The object is to wheelie the front wheel clear over the water and onto the far bank with enough momentum to carry the whole bike across. Even though it’s likely the rear wheel will drop into the ditch as you cross, if you carry enough momentum, you will get over. The difficulty with these crossings is that they often have a tight and slippery run up. Just charging and cracking open the throttle at the last moment won’t work. If the rear tyre spins the result may be a low, or no wheelie, meaning the front wheel won’t raise the far bank - an instant endo and almost certain embarrassment. The critical skill in this trick is to execute a successful controlled wheelie. You don’t want to build too much speed, so your wheelie comes more from clutch and throttle control, combined with footpeg weighting and body position, rather than application of raw power. The object is to wheelie without getting the rear wheel to spin. It's fair to say that most trail riders and even some enduro riders have not mastered the clutch wheelie with full rear wheel traction. If you don't believe how important this skill is, sign up for one of Chris Birch's training sessions and get the message from the master.And one last piece of advise, don’t be half arsed about soft bottom crossings, better have the front wheel too high, than too low. It may not look pretty but if you do clear the far bank somehow the impact of the rear wheel hitting the far bank should be enough to get the front wheel firmly back on the dirt in any case.